CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
A week came and went without incident. Then, an incident to trump all previous incidents occurred causing Violet to grumble under her breath. Hayley was missing. She had gone out six hours ago and hadn't come back. Ordinarily Violet wouldn't think twice but Vincent wouldn't stop yowling and fussing. He was pacing the floors, carrying Estelle by her shirt the whole time. Estelle squealed in delight, basking in the sudden attention but he was driving Violet up the wall. Liam didn't seem too concerned, until it started to get dark. Then he started to pace. "ENOUGH" She snapped. "I will go look for her! But for the sake of all that is holy knock it off!" She was met with three sets of wide eyes. She shook her head and loaded a clip into her gun. She looked to the heavens pleading for patience.
She stalked Hayley like an apex predator. The slightest sign that the small hunter had been there was all she needed. She followed the tracks to the supermart they got their supplies at. She couldn't have possibly been prepared for what awaited her inside. The smell hit her first. An ungodly putrid odor that made Violet want to wretch. The smell of Boomer and smoker and witch all combined to the nth degree. As her eyes adjusted, she realized why. The entire store was almost cleared of supplies, and the missing items had been replaced by a much more macabre stock.
The rotting corpses of nearly one hundred special infected. An unidentifiable liquid seeped towards the door, brownish green looking sludge contrasting with the white speckled lamanent. A giant pond of filth. Violet shook her head, trying to clear the disgust from her mind as she trudged forward, trying not to think about what she was stepping in.
As she carefully made her way through the piles of bodies a new degree of horror settled on her features. Someone or something had absolutely mutilated these infected. There was a smoker that had all of its tongues cut out, and the large tumors had obviously been sliced off of its face, some had even been dug out, leaving craters in its face. A jockey clearly had its spine broken in a cruel attempt at straightening its hunched spine. But what truly horrified her was stumbling across the body of a young with. Witches were hard to determine age in, but this one was small. Bone thin like the rest, this one was very petite in stature. All her claws had been cut off. Her eyes, that had probably been red, were gouged right out of her head. Her throat had been slit. Violet almost puked again when she took note the poor thing was totally nude.
Death. Death everywhere. She didn't want to die. She was dying. He would kill her when he found out. She could hear the noise. Was he back? No no no no no. She let out a small almost inaudible whimper as his smell filled the room. She tried to hold perfectly still but fear had her shaking.
Violet nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard someone speak behind her. "Well hello there. Can I help you?" She whipped around to see a man in his mid thirties smiling at her. He wasnt very impressive in stature but he somehow held himself in such a way that he made her skin crawl. He had brown eyes and brown hair. He had a very splotchy face and a sharply hooked nose. She said she was looking for supplies, just passing through. Then she asked what happened here.
She was chilled to the bone when the strange little man let out a giggle. "Oh the experiments? I try to catch them alive. Try to cure their ills. I take away what makes them dangerous and try to tame them. Train them. But it doesnt work. No it doesnt. They keep dying. I fear they cannot be fixed. No. so we must kill them all. But fear not. Salvation is at hand. We are here. Well I am here. The rest of us will be here soon. We are cleansing them. My team will be here soon. They sent me ahead to scout the area. I started the cleanse without them. My research grew tiresome."
Violet narrowed her eyes at the clearly deranged little man in front of her. There is nothing more dangerous than a well educated psychopath with megalomania. Her narcissism hadnt reached that level but she had met people who had. The man in front of her was clearly deluded and heavily armed. She wanted nothing to do with him. She just wanted Hayley.
She surprised herself by concocting a story of a female smoker two blocks over. An eerie light seemed to come to his eyes as he excitedly informed her that he had never come across a female specimen of that particular mutation. She felt her blood run cold as he informed her that it had been discovered that the female anatomy didnt change drastically from the mutation. She recoiled and felt bile rise in her throat when he made a joke about Witches being just as good as a real woman. He didnt notice her revulsion though, too excited by her fabricated sighting. He excused himself quickly.
She waited two minutes after she was sure he was gone before she softly called Hayleys name. The terrified hunter crawled from her hiding spot amongst the infected corpses and whined her relief. Violet headed swiftly to the door. As she exited the store she saw stars as the butt of a rifle connected with the side of her head. She fell to the floor. She looked up and saw the horrific grin of a monster worse than any infected she had seen. She heard Hayley yelp in surprise before letting out an ear splitting screetch.
Dazed, Violet tried to find her pistol but her hands wouldnt cooperate. "You sneaky little bitch! I thought something was off about you! Look at you, parading around with a monster. Did you think you could cure her? There is no cure! You dumb slut! I am the cure. I cleanse the pestilence from the world! I destroy this scourge on humanity. I kill them all. And im going to kill you. Your body isnt infected but your mind is! I will wipe out the impurities!"
Violet stared at him, this insane ugly man. He looked benign at best. Before he had (clearly) lost his mind, he probably was. Brown eyes lit up with an eerie glow, thinning brown hair that had started to gray around the temples. His name was probably Bill Jones. Or John. John Smith. So unassuming, so boring and ordinary. Unfortunately for her, John had gone batshit insane and was going to kill her. Violet realized these were stupid and less than profound thoughts to be having right before dying but the blow to tbe head had her unable to focus. She let out a hysterical giggle when she realized he was STILL ranting about the great purification and she wasnt paying attention. She smirked and muttered about him not deserving her attention anyway. He was a dick. She felt like a petulant teenager. She giggled again.
This caused his rage to boil over. He leveled the gun to her temple and told her to enjoy hell. Her eyes met his and she smiled up at him before informing him he would have the pleasure before she did.
The shot rang out and a cold smirk could be seen in the brief flash of light the gun omitted. Violet didn't flinch when fragments of his skull and brain matter hit her face. Instead, she looked at the man lowering his hunting rifle and whispered "I love you Liam" He just nodded grimly. Killing an uninfected person wasn't something he was happy about, but he wasn't going to lose sleep over it. He helped her to her feet and pulled her into his arms, hugging her close. He clung to her and squeezed her until she pleaded for air. They left the den of horrors hand in hand.
When they got home Violet peered into the distance and saw a line of black SUVs headed into town. She and Liam got inside and immediately started packing. It was time to go. It wouldn't be safe here for her hunters. She picked up Estelle and told her they had to go but they would stay together. They would stick together. Solemn blue eyes looked up at her and a small clear little voice rang out. "Fam-lee".